Monolith M-TWE Earbuds Review: Great Audio, But Bulky

Who Are The Monolith M-TWE Earbuds For?

• The Monolith M-TWE earbuds offer surprisingly fantastic audio quality for a pair of wireless earbuds
• The M-TWE earbuds look fantastic, feel like a premium product, and have a unique shape
• The M-TWE has both a noise cancellation mode and ambient sound mode

Wireless earbuds tend to excel in one area, while not quite matching the quality of other earbuds in a different area. So is the case for the Monolith M-TWE earbuds. These earbuds have some of the best audio quality I have heard for something under $100. However, their unique shape, which I really like from an aesthetic point of view, just may be the M-TWE's downfall.

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A Unique, Bulky Shape

The Monolith M-TWE earbuds have a unique circle shape that I haven't really seen with other earbud options. It does help the earbuds stand out a little, and I like how they feel in my hands. The earbuds also have a decent heft to them, which again makes them feel great to hold. How they feel in my ears, however, is another story.

The weight of the M-TWE buds causes some pretty major discomfort after prolonged use, and because of the circular shape, that means a decent amount of that weight is found in the top of the earbuds. This causes the M-TWE buds to slip out of place somewhat regularly, even when using the smallest earbud tips. It's never so bad that the earbuds fall out of my ears completely, but it does make wearing the earbuds a little uncomfortable, especially for long stretches of time.

More Than Just Tap Controls

Like most other wireless earbuds these days, the Monolith M-TWE earbuds have tap controls. However, they're implemented in a way that I don't really care for. A single tap switches between the noise cancelling feature, ambient noise feature, and having both turned off. We'll go more into detail on those features later, but I always prefer it when the single tap option is play/pause or volume controls. Accidentally changing the noise features is more annoying than accidentally pausing a song for a second or two, but that's just me.

It's still possible to tap to play/pause music, but that requires a double tap. To make this a little easier, the M-TWE earbuds have a sensor in them that can tell when one earbud has been removed. Once this happens, the earbuds will tell the audio source to pause, and it automatically resumes once the earbud is put back in. This works well enough, but it's possible for the sensor to be tricked if holding the earbud in a closed hand. It does require holding the earbuds in specific ways to not accidentally resume playback.

However, the bigger issue I have with the tap controls is how the Monolith M-TWE incorporates volume adjustment. To change the volume, users need to swipe up or down on an earbud. I don't mind this in theory, and kind of like how the M-TWE is taking advantage of its large, flat face, but the bulkiness of the earbuds makes this very difficult. Because the earbuds are so large and topheavy, swiping up and down also often results in the earbud popping out, or at least getting dislodged.

Sound Quality That Surprises

Using the Monolith M-TWE earbuds, I've been shocked at how great they sound. What really stands out is how well the earbuds handle stereo sound. Music bounces back and forth, or is isolated to one ear over the other, making music sound much more life-like and rich.

The audio mix is, by default, fairly flat. This means the bass isn't necessarily heavier or lighter than the mids and highs. These earbuds will certainly not rattle anyone's heads from the bass, but that's not to say it is completely lost. It's still present, but mixed in enough to not overwhelm.

Microphone Can't Keep Up

As excellent as the audio is with the Monolith M-TWE, the built-in microphone doesn't quite keep up. There were minimal issues when talking on video calls when the earbuds were paired with a laptop, but talking on a phone call was a much different experience. The person I talked to said I sounded like I was standing in traffic, despite actually being in the middle of my quiet kitchen. Turning off my air conditioner did help, but I was told I still sounded a little staticky.

Noise Cancellation That Does Something

Anyone who has read a previous review from me for wireless earbuds that have noise cancellation features has probably come across a rant about how noise cancelling features don't really work. Earbuds are just too small compared to headphones, so they lack the space and power to really make an impact.

That is largely the same for the Monolith M-TWE earbuds. When hopping between the noise cancellation, ambient sound and nothing, the biggest noticeable difference is when turning the ambient sound on. All this really does is activate the M-TWE's microphones to feed audio in alongside whatever is coming through the earbuds. However, the levels of noise heard between turning the noise cancellation on and off is more or less the same. There's an oh-so-slight difference, but it is very small.

SoundID App

There is an optional app called SoundID that works with the Monolith M-TWE earbuds. Theoretically, this app allows users to create custom audio profiles on the M-TWE earbuds based on the results from a simple hearing test. This app isn't exclusive to the M-TWE and supports a number of other products as well.

I said theoretically above, because the app refused to let me create an account. After entering all my information when registering, the "Continue" button didn't do anything when clicked. I tried a number of times, so I'm not sure what the problem is. The SoundID app is not crucial for the Monolith M-TWE earbuds, so thankfully it's something that we can just skip over. Besides, the audio on the M-TWE earbuds is already great as is.

Final Thoughts

Man, this one is tough. I really want to love the Monolith M-TWE earbuds because they really have some top-tier audio quality. I dig the unique shape, and they also look and feel so much nicer than so many other earbuds I have used. There's a premium quality there that is pretty rare, especially for something under $100.

However, that unique shape may be the M-TWE's downfall. The circular design makes the earbud topheavy, which causes it to sit oddly and uncomfortably in my ear. This basically renders the volume controls unusable without having to do more work than just changing the volume on whatever device is paired with the earbuds instead.

That said, if you think you have larger ears than I do, the M-TWE's audio quality really is worth checking out. You'll be hard pressed to find a better-sounding wireless earbud in the same price range.